Arved Grass

In part 0, I discuss the inspiration and background for this model. Sunshine Models had produced a resin kit of the Pennsylvania X31F, but the owner has retired, and the kits are no longer in production. Fortunately, Bowser produces a model in styrene – a medium more modelers are comfortable working with.

Breaking news: David Sieber writes to tell me “One happy bit of info:  Sunshine Models is still active and Martin Lofton has not retired from the resin kit business (though last year, his wife Tricia shared that he had been considering it due to health problems).  However, all PRR X31-series kits were retired from his line due to sales plummeting after Bowser came out with their X31s.  This has happened with several of his resin offerings after various manufacturers have brought out a plastic version.  You can still get other unique cars like Pennsy X37 and X41 boxcars, B&O M-55C and H boxcars, and many others from Sunshine; see Jim Hayes’ unofficial Sunshine website at http://www.sunshinekits.com/ - Sunshine themselves are not online.  If you order, be prepared to wait at least 6 months for your order to be filled, since except for newly issued cars produced for the few shows that Sunshine attends, everything is cast to order and they are just that backlogged with orders.”

Perhaps the biggest problem with this model is the underframe. The model has four stringers instead of two, and the center sill is greatly simplified.

The X31Fs were rebuilt with four stringers instead of two starting in 1954. The problem is these stringers went the entire length of the car, eliminating the diagonal braces outside of the bolster. So, either the diagonal brace has to go, and the four stringers extended to the ends of the car, or the four stringers have to go, and replaced by two. Since I wanted the model to represent a car in 1953, this eliminated the option of building the car with four stringers.

So I carefully milled the underframe to eliminate the four stringers, and the mounting holes for the brake gear that Bowser had included. I also milled away the coupler pockets to make way for the scale sized draft gear from Accurail. I carefully chiseled and sanded away the parts I couldn’t mill, and then rescribed the wood plank flooring. I also puttied the brake mounting holes.

Construction began moving from the floor up (down, but inverted). The first thing I did was add the stringers. The prototype stringer is a Z-angle with the open face toward the center sill. This goes under all the frame crossbearers, which was impractical on the one-piece floor, so I had to do it in sections between the crossbearers. The Z-angle was simulated by two pieces of Evergreen styrene – a 0.030″ square piece, with a 0.010″ x 0.030″ strip for the flange portion that mounts to the floor. A pair of calipers came in handy to measure the distance between each crossbearer, and cut the styrene to length.

When this was done, attention was turned to the Brake Pipe. So far, this has been only added between the bolsters, but will eventually extend to the end of the car to mate up to the air hoses. This will be T-ed off to the triple valve and other brake parts at a later date. Although I’ve done this in the past with brass wire, I was encouraged to try 0.020″ Plastruct Styrene Rod, and I really like how this works.

Attention was then turned to the center sill. The model has just a vertical rib with rivets on the end, while the prototype has two I-beams, spaced 12″ between the top flange. I filed off the rivets, and cut 0.020″ x 0.060″ styrene strips to fit between the bolsters and each of the larger crossbearers. Those crossbearers, as near as I can tell, have straps that fit over the center sill, so rather than sand them flush with the top of what becomes the I-beam web of the center sill, I just put the top flange between them.

I have also been working on the body. There was a large casting blob on the roof. Although it would be mostly hidden by the roofwalk, I decided that since the model will encourage close scrutiny, I would do my best to remove it. The bodywork was completed with a coat of Gunze-Sangyo Mr. Surfacer 1000 (don’t you just love Japanese product names?) thinned with MEK.

In part 2, I’ll continue to work on the brake rigging of the underframe, and describe some of the work I’m doing to the body.

I started work on some Southern Pacific C-30-1 cabooses a couple weeks ago. The Southern Pacific (and it’s subsidiaries) had more cabooses of this class than any other class. It’s a mandatory model for anyone modeling the Steam or Steam-Diesel transition era, and I didn’t have any. For more information, please see Tony Thompson’s blog, or better yet, his book, Southern Pacific Freight Cars, Volume 2: Cabooses.

These started out as Walthers models, which were disassembled, stripped of their paint and lettering (using 91% Isopropyl Alcohol, followed by a run through my sand blast booth), at which point the model is, essentially, and undecorated kit.

First thing I wanted to do was to paint the interior. The cabooses were originally simply varnished. Later on, the interior received green paint. I have yet to find a color photograph of the interior, but I have found a Proto:48 scale model (“O-scale” but to a much higher level of precision than what most know and see as “O-scale”). My only issue with Bob’s model is that I don’t think the interior should be “Sea Foam Green,” but a bit darker shade.

The interior is going to be difficult to see through the windows, so I didn’t go to nearly as much detail as Bob did, but here’s what I did:

Paint used was P-B-L Star Brand Interior Green and Wood, with Tamiya Gloss Black for the upholstered cushions.

Next, I turned my attention to the underframe, and getting rid of those oversize coupler pockets. Most HO coupler pockets are, by NMRA recommended practice (RP-22), 1/4″ wide. This scales out to about 24 inches. Most real coupler pockets are 18″, so the coupler pockets are 33% too big, or, suitable for S-scale. With today’s scale size couplers, that’s just not acceptable anymore. In fact, since we’ve had scale size couplers (for about the last 15 years), it’s only exacerbated the out of scale proportions of the NMRA coupler pocket.

Fortunately we have an alternative. Unfortunately, it’s a difficult retrofit. Accurail offers a scale size coupler box for it’s Accumate scale size couplers. However, most modelers do not like plastic couplers because, at least early on, they were quite problematic when compared to metal couplers. Fortunately, we now have metal scale couplers by Sergent Engineering that not only overcome this issue, but a number of other issues with model couplers, such as exposed spring mechanisms. But you can read up more on those couplers at the Sergent Engineering site.

Another complaint with the Walthers car is that the coupler box extends out too far. Comparing with drawings in Thompson’s Caboose book, it is a few thousandths off, but easily correctable once the new coupler box is installed.

I used my mill to remove the necessary material from the center sill and end platform casting:

Some flash from the milling operation remains, and will be cleaned up with a file. Here’s another photograph showing the same part with one that’s unmolested:

Now, I know what you may be thinking – How are the couplers going to be mounted? Won’t you have to put a screw into the end platform?

Stay tuned for part 2, where I tackle the coupler mounting issue.

Today I went to the Palatka Railfest, held at the Amtrak depot in Palatka, Florida. Despite two of my friends bailing out on joining me, I had a great time!

There were a few vendors of the major scales – N, HO, and O scale. There were some very impressive HOn3 models on display from Blackstone Models, and this line is very impressive! Two vendors had Digital Command Control (DCC) systems, and a third was selling just DCC decoders. They were all very helpful in answering my questions about DCC systems, and I came very close to buying one!

Alas, one of the HO scale vendors packed up and left early – less than an hour after the show started! Must have been some sort of politics involved, as it certainly wasn’t because he had sold all his wares.

The museum at the depot has two HO scale layouts. The first one you see is a triple-decker layout, where you basically only see the top layer, and a window into the second layer down. What surprised me was that they were planning on constructing two more layers above the current top deck!

The second layout is built against a wall with trains from about knee height up to the ceiling, depicting the side of a mountain. Several loops allow multiple trains to run in and out of several vignettes, and many of these vignettes include animated scenes. From blinking lights on a large communication tower, to pigeons circling the roof of a building, to a highway bridge being constructed with a crane, the layout captivates visitors.

There was a G-scale layout setup outside with several loops of track. This was nicknamed the “Railroadeo.” But the highlight of the show, for me, was the N scale modular layout that the Ocala Model Railroads Historic Preservation Society came with. Here are some photographs:

I’m not a big fan of cars with graffiti on them, but it’s a sign of the times. The Tropicana Juice Train, which runs from Florida to New Jersey just about every day, had a couple of them, though, and I have to admit, I really like them! Take a look:

Thanks for looking!